Taking movement to the next level

I would like to address a question I was asked in reference to my last blog, “Movement is easy to understand, but tough to do right. It’s one thing to see it and know when each step type should be used, another to be able to feel it on court, and yet another to do it instinctively.

Any suggestions for going from one level of knowledge to the next?”

It’s correct to say that movement is easy to understand and tough to do right. This is in part because there are numerous steps to learn, correct patterns of movement, and more importantly, breaking through some of the counter-intuitive principles of associated moving correctly.

For instance, people understand that it’s faster to take large steps to the ball, but fail to realize that it’s not economical to take one last large step and effectively lunge to a ball. They don’t make the connection of the wasted energy and time it takes to do a lunge than take the extra 2-5 small steps to be on balance when they hit. I’ll often tell clients that if they feel like they can get to shot in 5 steps, to try to take 10. In essence, it forces them to break through their own psychological barrier.

Psychological barrier aside, people don’t understand how important maximizing time is while hitting. Many people from about a 3.0 level and up can hit decently when a ball is fed directly to them, but as soon as they are forced to move, their strokes diminish quickly. This is in large part due to people trying to time their movement to meet with the ball instead of getting there quickly and giving you the time to hit. If you’re timing is off by even the slightest margin, you’re going to be out of position for the rest of the point.

One of my old coaches used to tell me to just sprint to the area where the ball is going – I didn’t need to be exact, but to get to the area as fast as possible to set up for the shot. Since my game was and is based on foot speed, it instinctively made sense to me. Now as a coach, I try to teach the benefits of this mentality.

In terms of learning, it’s important to understand the movement, the patterns, the correct steps etc… but also the causation – what causes you to get out of position during a point.  Once you have a firm grasp on those aspects, just going out and doing it will really help you get a feel for what is correct and moving you from one level to the next. I remember when I first hit with Ian, Jason and the other guys on the team at Ferris – I had the strokes to hit with them, but I was nowhere close to being in the correct position to play points with them. I ended up feeling like a rag doll. After about a week or so of struggling to maintain my competitiveness, I started to be as aggressive as I could be with my feet. The subtly of being a passive observer to a conscious decision to be aggressive allowed me to play my game with them.

Am I advocating playing with better players? To an extent yes – they have a better grasp of the importance of time and from a movement perspective, it might mean taking a beating or two before you start to understand the subtleties as well.

Maximize Movement

Many people claim that the serve is the only shot in tennis that you control from begging to end – of which I won’t necessarily disagree with. However, each player can control their footwork and the aggressiveness of their movement. While a person’s energy will ebb and flow depending on the day, each person is still capable of giving 100% of what they can on every time they play.  It’s imperative to understand proper movement and the pressure it puts on your opponents.

Learning how to correctly move on a court is much more important than any single shot a player might hit. By being able to recognize where to move to on the court, and the speed it takes to move to the shot, puts pressure on your opponents to do more with their shots. Tennis is a sport dictated on time, those who maximize their time while taking the most away from their opponents will prosper.

Frequently, Club players cite difficulties with their mobility. However, that is only a small part of the equation. Even those players whose movement is above average often fall prey to bad footwork. One misstep per shot in a rally leads to off-balance play and limited shot making. More importantly, instead of dictating play the player becomes reactionary. Here are a few tips to help improve your movement on the court:

Split Step: Right before your opponent makes contact on every shot including the serve, you should take a small balanced hop. This action allows for quick movement in any direction.

Large Steps: Use large steps initially to get to the ball as fast as possible. The quicker a player can get to a shot, the easier it will be to take control.

Small Steps: As you approach the ball shorten up your steps. Using small steps allows for you to adjust to the ball and hit the ball in your contact zone all while staying balanced.

In conclusion, proper movement before and after your opponents hit the ball gives you an unbelievable advantage.